"You’re pleading guilty because you are guilty," said Judge John P. Walsh at a September 21 hearing held in Brooklyn criminal court. "Is that correct?" Pomie, who stood handcuffed during the proceeding, said "yes" and nodded his head. After his 2006 conviction for first-degree assault and first-degree assault as a hate crime, Pomie said he was innocent.

In 2005, Pomie attacked Prince with two other men after Prince flirted with him. Pomie returned with one of those men to deliver a second beating, and then came back alone a third time, but was prevented by witnesses from beating Prince. As Pomie left the scene that third time he delivered a kick to Prince’s head saying, "Yo, leave it alone son, the nigger’s a faggot," witnesses said.

In 2006, Pomie was sentenced to 25 years with the requirement that he serve at least 21-and-a-half years before being eligible for parole. In 2008, a state appeals court overturned the conviction and dismissed the top charges against Pomie, saying he could be retried on the lesser charges of second-degree assault and second-degree assault as a hate crime.

Pomie will be sentenced on October 13 to a 9-year term. GCNadds: "Pomie has been in custody since his 2005 arrest and all of that time counts toward the minimum time served. He could get his first parole hearing in roughly four years."

Dwan Prince was sentenced to "life". Prince will NEVER fully recover from the several beatings he received from Steven Pomie. I think Pomie's original sentence was more appropriate for this crime.

Some gay men have commented about Prince's allegedly "ex-gay" stance. I wonder if any of those gay men would "love" Prince in his present condition (partially paralyzed, brain damamged AND HIV-positive). Probably not. So he has to get the emotional/spirtual (and perhaps physical) nourishment MOST people need where ever he can find it. Which is, sadly, what he's probably doing.

I have a question: would Pomie's sentence have been greater if Prince had never written the letter blaming himself? It seemed to me to be a blow to the prosecution. Also: I am curious what caused Pomie to finally confess his guilt, and seemingly express remorse? (From another post here on Rod 2.0, I also can't help but wonder if Pomie's vicious attack came from some own questions and fears around his own sexuality. In either case, it's just a sad situation all around.)

I wonder has anybody from the LGBT community even reached out to him. After suffering such an ordeal, he could very well feel alone and abandoned. He was already HIV+ and now this. He has a lot of emotional and physical trauma. This church is providing support to him in his time of need. Therefore, he feels a sense of obligation and trust in them. They have become his family. He feels apart of their community and valued. If we do not reach out to him, these churches will. At this point, he is looking for any form of acceptance and peace in his life of trauma.

Using the tragic story of a victim of vicious homophobic violence to launch another petty tirade against this blog. If you you don't like this blog so much, then don't read it. But your comments will continue to be banned or deleted. Forever. -RM

I wouldn't be so quick to try to blame the gay community or LGBT organizations. Obviously he was gay before the gay incident and gay afterwards. A number of organizations were active in this case, like the NYC Anti Violence Project and I am sure he was getting help with his HIV thru one of the gay or HIV/AIDS groups.

As Rod pointed out, he went though a traumatic experience and is also brain damaged. Churches often prey on people like this to try to say they "saved them." And sorry but imho a gay HIV positive man who believes he can 'wash' his sperm is not playing with a full deck, god bless him.